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By Chris Brown

Help for hotels, other lodgers

Province extends tourism levy abatement period

Dec 4, 2020 | 1:32 PM

Tourism levy amounts collected by hotels and other lodging providers in Alberta will stay with them a little longer.

The province announced today that operators can keep the levy collected until the end of March, an extension of three months.

According to a government release, it will free up to $10 million in additional cash flow for the sector to employ staff, maintain operations and continue providing valuable services through the winter season.

Dave Kaiser, president and CEO of the Alberta Hotel and Lodging Association applauds the extension.

“Leaving tourism levy dollars in the hands of hotel operators provides additional liquidity to an industry that is fighting to survive due to the necessary restrictions on travel and gatherings that remain in place to fight COVID-19,” he said.

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The original abatement of the tourism levy was approved in May and was to be in place from March 1 to Dec. 31. The extension comes following feedback from accommodation providers across the province.

The province is also providing a total of $8 million to organizations in Calgary, Edmonton, Banff, Jasper and Canmore that promote these tourism destinations and is expanding Travel Alberta’s role within the province.

Travel Alberta is now responsible for helping develop new travel destinations and expanding tourism across the province, in addition to marketing and promoting Alberta as a must-see tourism destination, reads the release.

Quick facts

• In 2017, the tourism industry employed about 72,500 full-time employees and contributed $7.3 billion to the province’s GDP.
• Between 2015 and 2017, Alberta saw an average of 35 million person visits annually, with these visitors spending about $8.5 billion on tourism in our communities each year.
• According to Statistics Canada:
  • There were about 20,000 tourism-related businesses in Alberta in June 2020, accounting for 3.7 per cent of the total number of businesses in the province.
  • About 11 per cent of Canada’s tourism-related businesses are in Alberta.
  • The majority of Alberta’s tourism-related businesses (98.6 per cent) are small, consisting of either a self-employed person with a minimum annual revenue of $30,000, or a business with between one and 99 employees.

(CHAT News Today)